TGL Tested: Our Takes on Building a Website
ICYMI: TGL Tested is our series exploring the newest and trendiest digital marketing tools for tasks, including skills such as video editing, email marketing, and everything AI. We’ve tested them so you don’t have to, so you’ll know what’s worth trying and what can be ignored.
Welcome back! This time, we’re going to discuss the dynamic world of website building, including our favorite website-building tools and our thoughts on them. There are several situations that might require your team to build a website. Perhaps you’re launching a new campaign or product, updating an old website, or undergoing a rebrand.
Here at TGL, each team member has a unique work style tailored to our roles and our clients' goals. Some of us have experience in putting together websites, while others have assisted in the maintenance of websites on the sidelines.
Squarespace
Squarespace offers your website simplicity without sacrificing style. It is known for its many templates, section-based editing, and robust eCommerce tools, which streamline the website creation process.
While many of the design tools and templates don’t allow for too much customization, you can always use code to make specific tweaks you want. But it’s always recommended to work with a developer unless you really know what you’re doing! For most people and small organizations, making tweaks to what Squarespace offers in its templates is usually enough.
Its features include customizable templates, a commenting system, pre-built layouts, custom redirects, and more.
Pros:
14-day free trial.
Affordable.
The annual plan saves you 36%.
It integrates with many platforms, such as Mailchimp, Apple Pay, social media, such as LinkedIn and Instagram, Google Analytics, and more.
Unlimited storage.
Responsive templates.
It is ideal for beginners with minimal coding experience or for those who need to quickly create a website themselves without the budget to hire a web developer.
Cons:
Additional fees accompany the Business plan and above.
Tested by: Senior Project Manager, Renee Tate
“Squarespace is my favorite. It's definitely the easiest web builder I've used. It has templates you can use and customize from there. It's slightly limited, but I at least know that no matter what I pick, the site will look fabulous, work properly, and be easy for me to update. Really gives me peace of mind.”
Tested by: Consultant, Erin Mishkin
“Squarespace! It's easy enough for someone without much website experience to use, is pretty nimble, and makes beautiful sites.”
Tested by: Slice Author and Social Media Coordinator, Jade Martin
“I'm always using it to update and edit existing features on TGL’s website. I love how easy it is to sort through different pages of your site.”
Wix
With Wix, you have options. You can start from scratch if you have a clear vision in mind, or you can choose from a bunch of designed templates to kickstart your creativity. A powerful AI website builder feature can help you get the ball rolling if you don’t know where to start.
You can easily customize every aspect of your site, and you don't need to be a tech genius to do it, especially if you take advantage of the AI feature.
Wix isn't just for building your website but also running and promoting your business all in-house with built-in business solutions and marketing tools. It offers SEO support, enterprise-grade security, and a ton of integrations.
While Wix has a free plan and affordable pricing, it has some drawbacks, including limitations on flexibility and non-transferrable websites.
Overall, Wix is suitable for businesses seeking a fast and straightforward website-building process with integrated eCommerce functionality, but it may not be ideal for larger organizations with extensive growth plans.
Pros:
User friendly.
Free plan available.
14-day free trial for premium.
Beautiful templates (no, seriously, check these out).
Integrates with 52 other platforms.
It is an ideal option for portfolio sites or short-term campaign sites.
Cons:
Template flexibility; once you choose one, you can’t edit its base features.
Big media files will slow down your site, so if you plan on including a bunch of video files and big images this might not be for you.
Tested by: Senior Project Manager, Renee Tate
"Setting up a Wix site is easy, especially since it's free with your Google account. However, I struggled to find a suitable template for my needs, and the user interface was not as intuitive as WordPress or Squarespace. Making simple updates to my site was frustrating, so I think Wix is more suitable for small sites with minimal content rather than for a company website."
Tested by: Boss Lady, Katie Stanton
"While many of our clients start with Wix websites, they tend to eventually upgrade to another system with more template options. However, Wix can be a great solution if you don’t want to make frequent updates to your site, and it has capabilities that have solved problems for our clients in the past, like the ability to create a contact form that allows users to upload picture files – this was a great feature for our friends at Marlowe Ink! If you’re trying to DIY your site, it’s not a bad option, but it’s not my first choice."
WordPress
WordPress is the most affordable option of the three. It’s open-source software, which means a site's code is available for editing and for anyone to view. This can be both a pro and a con, as you can make any changes needed, but it also leaves your site vulnerable to copying and hacking.
Its user-friendly interface, extensive plugin library, SEO capabilities, and responsiveness make it a favored choice for website creation.
Its features include a block editor, embedding any media type, SEO tools, custom domains, and more.
Pros:
Affordable.
Free plan available.
Offers a bunch of plugins.
Highly customizable.
Ideal for custom websites that have larger teams contributing content and have a clear sense of all the requirements they’d need to be built into their site.
Cons:
Open-source software leaves your site vulnerable to hacking; choose plugins carefully.
Due to being highly customizable, website development expertise is recommended to get the best possible outcome. WordPress sites also need more back-end maintenance over time.
Tested by: Senior Project Manager, Renee Tate
“WordPress can be a close second to Squarespace; however, you need a developer to build it in a way that is intuitive for your needs. It's so customizable that it can quickly get out of hand. However, with a great developer, you can build a custom website that is unique to your organization’s needs and you’re able to invite multiple users to take part in web updates which is great if you want to have an approval process built into your site or if you have multiple content contributors.”
Tested by: Boss Lady, Katie Stanton
“Wordpress is one of the most popular options for a reason – it gives you tons of options, but for someone who is not an expert and trying to build their site themselves it can be tricky. The back-end is not so intuitive, and clients often come to us with neglected Wordpress websites because a developer built the site for them and didn’t teach them how to maintain it. If you’re going to go this route, understand everything that’s required to build the site, organize your content properly, AND maintain the site over time, or you’ll be budgeting for a developer to help you for a long time. (And that’s not necessarily a bad thing! We love to bring in experts to help us get the best possible result. Our friends at Rocketkoi are Wordpress experts!)”
Websites are a frequent topic here on The Slice; you might remember our post on spring-cleaning your homepage, or maybe this one on creating a kick-ass landing page. Keep an eye out for more posts on website development in the near future, and book a meeting with us if you want to get more website advice or meet our developer friends; Also, feel free to suggest any other tools we should try in the comments below!